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Fashioning London

Clothing and the Modern Metropolis

Fashioning London cover

Fashioning London

Clothing and the Modern Metropolis

Quantity
Pre-order. Available 23 Jul 2026
$49.49 RRP $54.99 Website price saving $5.50 (10%)

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Description

Over the past three centuries, London has established itself as one of the world's most inventive fashion capitals. Drawing on a range of sources, including paintings, street photography, maps, tourist guides, literature, and stage and press representations, Fashioning London paints a vivid and definitive portrait of London's iconoclastic style.

Explore how particular styles of dress became emblematic of this leading international city, ultimately challenging the fashion dominance of Paris, Milan, and New York. Christopher Breward constructs an original history of clothing in London, through its manufacture, promotion, and cultural significance, while examining how issues of space, architecture and performance impinge on notions of fashionability.

You will come away from this text understanding that although city life and fashion have always been intertwined, nowhere has this relationship been more excitingly expressed than on the streets of London.

Table of Contents

Preface to the re-issue
1. The Dandy: London's new West End 1790-1830
2. The Immigrant: East End, West End 1840-1914
3. The Actress: Covent Garden and The Strand 1880-1914
4. The Hostess and the Housewife: From Mayfair to Edgware 1918-1939
5. The Teddy Boy: Lambeth, Soho and Belgravia 1945-1960
6. The Dolly Bird: Chelsea and Kensington 1960-1970
7. The Student: Camden Market 1970-2000
Bibliography
Afterword

Product details

Published 23 Jul 2026
Format Paperback
Edition 2nd
Pages 288
ISBN 9781350400276
Imprint Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Illustrations 61 bw
Dimensions 234 x 156 mm
Series Foundations of Fashion Studies
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Christopher Breward

Chris Breward is the Director of National Museums…

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